This section provides background information related to the present disclosure and is not necessarily prior art.
Scroll compressors are used in applications such as refrigeration systems, air conditioning systems, and heat pump systems to pressurize and, thus, circulate refrigerant within each system.
As the scroll compressor operates, an orbiting scroll member having an orbiting scroll member wrap orbits with respect to a non-orbiting scroll member having a non-orbiting scroll member wrap to make moving line contacts between flanks of the respective scroll wraps. In so doing, the orbiting scroll member and the non-orbiting scroll member cooperate to define moving, crescent-shaped pockets of vapor refrigerant. A volume of the fluid pockets decreases as the pockets move toward a center of the scroll members, thereby compressing the vapor refrigerant disposed therein from a suction pressure to a discharge pressure.
Scroll compressors may include a bearing housing that houses a drive bearing assembly. The drive bearing assembly often includes a steel-backed insert (e.g., press-fit) that can rotate relative to the bearing housing under certain severe operating conditions. This relative rotation often causes undesirable movement of the insert, and may eventually cause the insert to “walk out” of the bearing housing.